BV 4531 
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Calfes on Htgf) CJjemes 
for f9oung Christians 

CHARLES E. JEFFERSON 



1 




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Book. 






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TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

FOR YOUNG CHRISTIANS 



TALKS 

ON 

HIGH THEMES 

FOR 

YOUNG CHRISTIANS 

BY 

CHARLES E. JEFFERSON, D.D. 

Pastor of The Broadway Tabernacle 
New York 



BOSTON 

THE PILGRIM PRESS 

NEW YORK • CHICAGO 



IBV453i 



Copyright, igog 
By Luther H. Cary 



531 



THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U. S. A. 



FOREWORD 

T1I7E are always thinking aloud 
* T on low things such as the 
weather and the next dinner or ex- 
cursion, but when it comes to high 
things we are inclined to keep our 
thinking to ourselves. 

And there is a reason. High 
things are sacred and we do not 
want to profane them with talk. 
High things involve our deepest 
experiences and we shrink from mak- 
ing an exhibition of them. More- 
over it is difficult to speak of high 
things with wisdom, and to exhibit 
one's ignorance or folly is not pleas- 
ant. And then when one thinks of 
high things aloud he must be in the 
[ v ] 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

company of those who are on his 
own level, for not every one likes 
to think of high things, and to 
speak of things exalted with those 
who have no sympathy with our 
ideals or feelings seems to be a vio- 
lation of the Master's admonition 
not to cast pearls before swine. 
There are many reasons why men 
never think aloud on things which 
are high. 

And this is a pity, for it does one 
good to think aloud. Continuous 
reverie is not wholesome. The 
mind which does not express itself 
becomes stupefied. Many a subject 
is puzzling and opaque until the 
tongue takes hold of it and shakes 
it. Crowding a thought into lan- 
guage is a task which wakes up the 
mind and gives it new vigor. To 
set an idea or feeling vibrating in the 

[vi] 



FOREWORD 



air gives one a new sense of its re- 
ality and increases the scope of its 
influence. And therefore a solilo- 
quy on cardinal matters is not with- 
out advantages. In the quiet of 
one's own room it is helpful to think 
aloud about the things which are of 
utmost worth. High things have 
a fashion of getting themselves lost 
in fog-banks, and one must pull them 
out of the mist, and get them down 
on paper. It is surprising sometimes 
how the mist leaves a subject when 
it is once brought out into the 
open air. Clearness of thought 
is all-important in dealing with 
things of high concern, and both 
the pen and the tongue are magi- 
cians which have the faculty of 
making muddy streams run clear. 
If one can talk with an acquaintance 
or friend this is far better. 

[vii] 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

" Iron sharpeneth iron ; 
So a man sharpeneth the countenance of his 
friend." 

In social intercourse the mind be- 
comes alert and takes on new capaci- 
ties. The effort to express what one 
thinks and the exertion to take in 
what some one else thinks are fine 
exercises for mental muscles, and 
the soul grows by every such use 
of its powers. If the person with 
whom we talk does not altogether 
agree with us, this disagreement 
becomes a means of grace, for it is 
a distinct advantage to see a subject 
from a new standpoint and to enter 
into the workings of a mind dif- 
ferent in type and experience from 
our own. A good debate on high 
themes may be both exhilarating 
and profitable, for ideas, like iron, are 
hammered into shape by heavy blows, 
[ viii ] 



FOREWORD 



and become all the clearer in outline 
as well as more serviceable after they 
have had a vigorous pounding. 

So I invite you into my study 
that we may think aloud together 
concerning some of the things 
which sometimes perplex and which 
occasionally slip down into the mist. 

If now and then I fail to touch 
upon subjects which are occasions of 
stumbling, or if my meaning at 
points becomes muffled in the rus- 
tling of my words, or if here and 
there your experience and judgment 
should depart from my own, speak 
right out, please, for I am desirous 
of learning your minds while I am 
revealing you a bit of my own. I 
shall leave all the windows open so 
that whatever is said may be heard 
round the world. 

Broadway Tabernacle, New York 
[ix] 



WITNESSING FOR CHRIST 



Talks on High Themes 
i 

WITNESSING FOR CHRIST 

I DO not like the word confession, 
for it suggests things. It is a 
word which has associations and 
an atmosphere. It suggests wrong- 
doing: we confess an error, or a 
fault ; a criminal is induced to 
make a confession. The word 
makes one think of a court-house 
and a jail. To say that one must 
confess that he is a Christian seems 
like saying that he must admit that 
he is a culprit. A good Catholic 
goes to confession, and all Christians 
are called upon to confess their sins. 
[3] 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

It is hard to wash the word clean of 
these associations. Or if it does not 
imply wrong-doing it hints at some- 
thing stately and formal. Are there 
not ponderous documents known as 
confessions of faith ? It is enough 
to frighten boys or girls to be told 
that they ought to make a good 
confession. 

Nor is the word profession much 
better. It smacks of pretense ; it 
sounds hollow and superficial. Peo- 
ple are always professing things 
they do not believe. They profess 
to be what they are not. A man of 
large professions is often a man to 
be shunned. To profess allegiance 
to Christ seems somewhat too showy 
and pretentious for one who wants 
to live a quiet Christian life. 

Nor is the word own satisfactory. 
It also implies more than it says. 
[4] 



WITNESSING FOR CHRIST 

We " own " a poor relation, or our 
dog which has bitten a boy in the 
street. But when we talk of the 
duty of owning Christ it makes one 
feel that he is an outcast craving 
recognition, and that it is a great 
act of virtue on our part to admit 
that he belongs to us. 

And yet, while it is difficult to 
find a word that satisfies, there is a 
very definite act which must in some 
way or other be expressed, and possi- 
bly we shall not do better than to go 
back and listen to an ancient Hebrew 
poet saying : " Let the redeemed of 
the Lord say so." " Saying so " ex- 
presses clearly what the New Testa- 
ment means by confession. When 
one decides to be a Christian let him 
say so. There is an easy-going, in- 
formal sound about "saying so" 
which reminds one that Christian 
[5l 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

confession ought to be both natural 
and easy. It ought not to be thought 
of as something stiff and formal, 
elaborate and solemn, but something 
as natural as breathing and as easy 
as talking. 

Of course there will be voices in 
the heart ready to protest against the 
beginning Christian taking any such 
step as this, and just how plausible 
these voices are I know full well, for 
I heard the entire chorus of them in 
my own heart when I was a boy. 
One voice asserts that the essence of 
the Christian life is a heart right 
with God, and that when the heart 
is right any formal, outward act has 
little worth or meaning. Another 
voice is certain that conduct is the 
one thing essential and that it is not 
what one says but what one does that 
counts. Let the Christian, therefore, 
[6] 



WITNESSING FOR CHRIST 

do Christlike deeds, and the world 
will infer from this that he has been 
with Jesus, Another voice warns 
against self-conceit ; silence is the 
only genuine modesty. Another 
voice sounds solemn warnings of 
possible falls, and insinuates that if 
one declares himself a Christian and 
then stumbles and goes back, the 
humiliation that overtakes him is 
tenfold greater than if he starts in 
silence and never announces with 
trumpets the kind of life he proposes 
to live. But all such voices, how- 
ever plausible, are mistaken and mis- 
leading, as you will readily see when 
you think what they say aloud. 

All these voices run directly 
counter to the grain of the Christian 
life. The Christian life is first of all 
a natural life, a life which every 
normal human being ought to live, 
[7] 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

If a man's life is artificial or defec- 
tive then he may be assured that his 
life is not altogether Christian. Now 
it is natural for human beings to talk 
about the things in which they have 
an interest. It is hard to conceive of 
a man interested in politics who 
never says a word about politics ; or 
of a woman in love with music who 
never mentions music ; or of a man 
enthusiastic over art who continu- 
ously ignores art in his speech ; or of 
a woman zealous in a great reform 
who maintains an unbroken silence 
in regard to it. Out of the abun- 
dance of the heart the mouth speaks. 
If therefore a man is interested in 
Jesus of Nazareth and his cause, the 
natural thing for him to do is to 
say so. 

The Christian life is also complete. 
Christ lays his claim upon body, 
[8] 



WITNESSING FOR CHRIST 

mind and spirit ; he is inexorable in 
his demands ; he will have nothing 
less than all. He therefore who 
would start the Christian life should 
be careful that the surrender of the 
soul's all is total. Not only must 
every faculty of the mind be brought 
into captivity, but also every organ 
of the body. 

Now of all the organs of the body 
none surpasses in usefulness or power 
the tongue. It is a miracle-working 
member. As James reminds us, it 
is small but it is mighty. It is pecu- 
liar to the race of men. Animals, to 
be sure, have tongues, but there is 
only one human tongue. The fac- 
ulty of articulate speech is granted 
only to those who are capable of 
becoming the sons of God. When, 
therefore, one decides to live a com- 
plete life he must carry with him all 
[91 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

the capacities and powers with which 
the Almighty has endowed him. 
To silence or discard a member 
which has been granted a central 
place in the life of the soul is evi- 
dence that the person doing this does 
not see clearly what being a Chris- 
tian means. 

Moreover, being a Christian is 
synonymous with being manly. 
Jesus was the ideal man. He above 
all others was candid, brave and true. 
He was incapable of anything cow- 
ardly or underhanded. His un- 
shrinking courage thrilled and lifted 
the men who knew him. To be a 
Christian is to go to school to him ; 
the mind which was in him is also 
to be in us. If through fear or 
shame we creep and sneak through 
life, not daring to proclaim our 
thoughts, our own heart condemns 

[10] 



WITNESSING FOR CHRIST 

us and tells us that we are unworthy 
of being numbered among the dis- 
ciples of One who was always out- 
spoken and magnificently frank. 

Furthermore, the Christian life is 
a life of faith. A Christian is one 
who refuses to walk by sight ; he ac- 
cepts things which are not yet 
present; he believes things which 
he cannot prove. Conscious of his 
own weakness, he believes there is a 
strength able to sustain him. He 
sees that many things are impossible, 
but he believes that with God all 
needed things are possible. But if 
he is timid and fearsome and shrinks 
from plunging boldly into the serv- 
ice of his new Master, he has nipped 
the Christian life in the very bud. 
The youth who refuses to say he is a 
Christian, out of fear that he may 
fall, invites the very fall he would 
In] 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

fain escape. There is nothing for 
which Jesus so strongly pleads as 
faith. Many a well-meaning Chris- 
tian has by a life of silence quenched 
the Christian light and crushed the 
Christian life at the very start. If 
one has not faith sufficient to open 
his mouth he will certainly lack faith 
sufficient to win the battle and earn 
the crown. 

And then the Christian life is in 
its essence the unselfish life. One 
does not become a Christian pri- 
marily for himself, but for others. 
Jesus told his disciples at the very 
start that only as they lost themselves 
could they ever hope to save them- 
selves. That principle is funda- 
mental. If a Christian is in the 
world to bring his acquaintances and 
friends to Christ, of course he must 
use his tongue and that continually. 

[12] 



WITNESSING FOR CHRIST 

It is by our speech that we persuade 
men to do the things which we want 
them most of all to do. We are to 
influence them, to be sure, by our 
conduct, but our speech is a part of 
our conduct. We are to be judged 
by our deeds, and what we say is 
one of our deeds. When men say, 
" Live the Christian life, and you 
need then do nothing more," they 
forget that one does not live the 
Christian life unless he speaks. A 
life of deeds divorced from words 
is only a maimed and mangled life. 
But even if the world did not 
need the open confession which 
Christians make, Christians them- 
selves need the strength which this 
confession brings. It braces one to 
let men know that he has identified 
himself with a noble cause. The 
consciousness that men have their 
[13] 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

eyes upon us is one of the ways 
God has of holding his servants 
true to their appointed task. Let a 
man commit himself in public to 
an arduous enterprise, and the gaze 
of the witnesses will help keep him 
from turning back. When men 
enlisted for the Civil War they al- 
ways did it in public. The act of 
putting on the uniform and march- 
ing openly under the flag quenched 
the fears of the heart, and made 
timid men brave as . lions. No 
man is strong enough to dispense 
with the strength which comes 
from public confession. 

Finally, a Christian ought always 
so to act that others may safely 
follow his example. If it is right 
that one Christian should stand al- 
ways dumb, then it is allowable that 
all Christians should stand dumb; 
(Hi 



WITNESSING FOR CHRIST 

and with no one in the world but 
dumb Christians, how would the 
cause of Christ triumph? It is 
only in those communities in which 
the testimony of professing Chris- 
tians is fullest toned that the prin- 
ciples of the Kingdom flourish. 
Every silent Christian subtracts from 
the sum total of the power needed 
to bring the world to Christ. 

I have spoken strongly in regard 
to this matter because Jesus himself 
has used language both vigorous and 
emphatic. He knew what was in 
man, and knowing how in each 
generation human hearts would be 
beguiled and tempted, he spoke 
often of the wickedness of secrecy. 
He told his disciples that they were 
a city set upon a hill. 

And when he sent his disciples out 
to preach he told them that no 
[15] 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

matter what sufferings they might 
incur by proclaiming themselves 
his disciples, they were to go bravely 
forward, for if they would not con- 
fess him before men, he could not 
confess them before God. There 
was only a handful of Christians in 
the world, and every one of them 
was infinitely precious; nevertheless 
it was better that some of these be 
slaughtered in the act of confession 
than to live on without saying that 
the Lord had redeemed them. 
Jesus is merciful, and yet he says 
that it is of such tremendous im- 
portance that his witnesses should 
speak that he commands them to 
go on speaking even though they 
may be murdered for doing so. 
Certainly the merciful Jesus would 
not sacrifice his best friends after 
this fashion if the world did not 
[16] 



WITNESSING FOR CHRIST 

need the public witnessing which 
only the tongues of Christians can 
furnish. If the first Christians were 
brave enough to confess Christ at 
the risk of being killed, we ought 
to be heroic enough to witness for 
him at the risk of being laughed 
at. 

In the Sermon on the Mount 
Christ says that people do not light 
a candle and put it under a bushel 
measure. Of course not, and the 
next time you hear some one trying 
to prove that a Christian can be a 
true follower of Christ without say- 
ing so, just think of that poor, dis- 
couraged, lonely candle flickering its 
life out under the cover of a bushel 
measure. If you are under a bushel 
be sure that Christ never put you 
there ; you crawled there yourself. 



17] 



II 

JOINING THE CHURCH 



II 

JOINING THE CHURCH 

NOW that you are a Christian 
you are of course going to join 
the church. You have already been 
thinking about it, but I see certain 
difficulties have arisen. There is 
something in you which impels you 
toward the church and there are 
voices which persuade you to hold 
back. You hesitate and waver, and 
I do not wonder. These shrinkings 
and reluctances are natural, and on 
the whole they are commendable. 
They are a good thing to have for a 
season and they are a good thing to 
get rid of. Sometimes the shrinking 
comes from a natural timidity of dis- 
position, sometimes it is the result of 

[21] 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

mental confusion, and often it is due 
to the consciousness of imperfections 
in the heart and life. 

In these days of hesitation you 
will hear many voices, and the argu- 
ment of the voices will run some- 
what as follows: 

" Why join the church at once ? 
Why be in such a hurry ? You do 
not know your own mind yet. You 
are ignorant of the Bible and the 
creed. You cannot tell yet whether 
or not you will hold out. There 
will be abundant opportunities to 
join the church later on. Why not 
go slow ? " 

And while you are waiting another 
voice says : " You are not ready to 
join the church yet. You are not 
good enough. You are impatient 
and quick-tempered and selfish and 
the last person to think of going 
[22I 



JOINING THE CHURCH 

into a Christian church. Is not 
the church a divine institution, and 
should not those who join it be 
almost perfect ? What presumption 
in so poor a Christian as you are to 
think of writing your name on the 
church book ! " 

And while thus abashed a third 
voice assures you that you are not 
needed. " You are youthful and 
insignificant and can add but little 
to the resources of the church. You 
are limited in money, experience and 
influence, and with so many already 
in the church why should a creature 
so weak and useless want to crowd 
himself in ?" 

After hearing this you are in a 
mood to listen to a voice which 
reminds you that you are not at all 
certain of your orthodoxy. " Are 
you sure you believe everything in 
[23] 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

the Bible just as the preacher believes 
it ? Can you say that you accept 
every sentence in the creed ? Do 
your opinions coincide with the 
opinions of all the people in the 
church ? Is not a person a hypocrite 
who joins a church unless he believes 
everything which the church offi- 
cials believe and teach?" 

By this time you are ready to 
criticize the church. You are not 
sure that you wish to identify your- 
self with it. It is far from an ideal 
church. It is slow and wrinkled 
and half dead. There are a lot of 
hypocrites in it, and several people 
whom you do not like. How could 
you be happy associated with per- 
sons in whose goodness you do not 
believe and with whose crotchets 
you could not get along? 

At this point a happy thought 
[24] 



JOINING THE CHURCH 

strikes you. It is not necessary after 
all to join the church. A Christian 
can be just as good outside the 
church as inside. Many men out- 
side are better than those inside. 
Joining the church is only a form 
and what does God care for forms ? 
He looks only at the heart, and if a 
man has the spirit of Christ he be- 
longs to him and is sure of heaven 
whether his name is on the church 
book or not. To sign a church 
covenant is hazardous. A man 
ought not to promise to do things 
when possibly he may not do them. 
It is enough then to belong to the 
Church Invisible. 

If joining the church is a duty 
then it cannot wisely be postponed. 
Putting off known duties is one of 
the most effective of all ways of put- 
ting out the eyes of the soul. That 
[25] 



TALKS ON HIGH III Bid E9 

joining the church ifl a duty I will 
prove later on. As tor your fear of 
not holding out banish it at once. 
Now that you are a Christian you 
must walk by faith ami the sooner 

you begin the better. I'hri-t has 
promised to keep you and it is a bad 

beginning to -tart off by doubting 

him. 

As for JTOUT deficiency in goodness, 
I acknowledge it is greatj but it i^ 
not great enough to bar you from 

the church. You should never think 
ot the church as a museum of models 
or an artistic collection ot* labeled 
saints. The church i> a schoolj and 
it you are willing to be taught by the 
great Teacher you have a rightful 
place in it. The church is a fa 
pital, and it you really want to be 
healed by the great Physician you 
may enter it. The church is an 
[ * 



JOINING THE CHURCH 

army, and if you want to do some 
fighting under the great Commander 
vou may enlist. The church is a 
family, and if you want to he with 
your hrothers and sisters you may 
come in. Joining the church is not 
saying, u See how good I am I ' It 
is an expression of gratitude tor the 
mercies of God and an indication of 
a Dlirp bow forth this gratitude 

in a lite consecrated to hi- service. 

It you fee] you are not needed it 
IS because you are morbid. Lilt up 
your eyes and look upon the world. 
Do you think no more laborers are 
needed : Is there no chance tor an 
additional soldier : Has the world 
so nearly conquered its sins that the 
Church need not add to its ranks : 
How do you know you are not 
needed : You have at least one tal- 
ent — possibly two. A child of 
[a;] 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

God can use his talents to best pur- 
pose inside the Church of Jesus 
Christ. 

I do not know how much you be- 
lieve, but I know that it is not nec- 
essary for you to believe all that the 
pastor and church officials believe 
in order to join the church. There 
is only one belief which is essential, 
and that is belief in the Lord Jesus 
Christ. If you believe that he is 
your Saviour, and if it is your desire 
to reproduce so far as you can his 
spirit and participate in his work 
then you believe enough to join the 
best church in the world. 

I do not wonder you see imperfec- 
tions in the church. I will assent to 
all the bad things you care to say 
against it. But after you have painted 
the church as black as you can, you 
have furnished one of the best of all 
[28] 



JOINING THE CHURCH 

reasons why you ought to go into it. 
You say the church is feeble and 
slow and dead. Yes, but it is Christ's 
church. It has in it hypocrites and 
disagreeable people. Yes, but it is 
Christ's church. If he is the friend 
of sinners ought you not to follow 
his example ? 

As for its not being necessary to 
join the church, I must deny this. 
You cannot possibly be as good a 
Christian outside the church as in- 
side, and no man outside the church 
is so good a man as he would be if 
he were a member of it. It is true 
that some men outside are better far 
than some men inside, but the com- 
parison must be not between some 
men outside and other men inside but 
between what a man is outside and 
what that same man would be if he 
were inside. A man who does his 
[29] 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

duty is always better than a man who 
shirks it. Joining the church is 
indeed a form, but it is the outer 
symbol of a spiritual experience. 
Outer forms are not without their 
value, for otherwise we should have 
no marriage ceremonies and no 
Presidential inaugurations. A world 
like this cannot get on without 
forms, and if Jesus submitted to the 
form of baptism, and if he gave to 
his disciples the bread and wine say- 
ing, " Do this in remembrance of 
me/' we may be sure that forms have 
a place in our earthly education and 
that we cannot dispense with them 
without incurring great and lasting 
loss. When one really intends to do 
something he ought not to be 
ashamed to say so, and writing his 
name to a covenant by which he 
binds himself to live for God and 
[30] 



JOINING THE CHURCH 

serve his fellow men will strengthen 
his purpose and hold him more 
surely to his duty. I have observed 
in my reading of Church History 
that the Visible Church was the 
Church which overturned the 
Roman Empire and lifted Europe 
out of its awful degradation, and I 
notice also that things go rather 
badly nowadays in every community 
in which there is not a church which 
men can see. I confess that the 
" Church Invisible" has an imposing 
sound, but the Visible Church is the 
only one which I know anything 
about. 

And now for the proof that join- 
ing the church is a duty. It is note- 
worthy that the New Testament 
knows nothing whatever of detached 
or isolated Christians. All the 
Christians known to the apostles 
[31] 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

were members of the church, A 
man cannot be a Christian by him- 
self. He is first of all a brother. 
He is a member of a family. He 
is a lover. Christ's new command- 
ment commands him to love his 
fellow Christians. How can he 
love them if he holds aloof from 
them, or if he refuses to help them 
bear their burdens or do their work ? 
Almost all the virtues and graces 
urged in the New Testament are 
social graces and virtues. Man is 
human only in society ; a Christian 
is genuinely Christian only in the 
church. A Christian outside the 
church is abnormal, stunted, maimed. 
The church is the home of the 
Christian life, and it is only in fel- 
lowship with believers that the soul 
comes to know the dimensions of 
that love which passes knowledge. 
[32] 



JOINING THE CHURCH 

The Christian is also a worker, a 
soldier, a savior. He must be a 
profitable servant, an effective soldier, 
a loving savior. Group strength is 
the only form of strength sufficient 
to solve the problems or overcomfe 
the evils of this world. An isolated 
man is impotent. A detached Chris- 
tian is unprofitable. Soldiers who 
really mean to fight march with the 
army. Workers who want their 
work to count work together. If 
the Church is indeed the body of 
Christ, the organ through which he 
speaks, the instrument by which he 
works, then it is certainly the duty 
of every soul desiring to fulfil its 
destiny to become an integral part 
of that body. 



33] 



Ill 

HABITS 



Ill 

HABITS 

WHEN one gets down deep into 
the little word " habit " he 
finds there the idea of having. Any 
action which we have and hold for 
a long time has a tendency to in- 
crease in power until it has and holds 
us. If one speaks the truth and per- 
sists in speaking it the custom thus 
established renders it difficult in time 
to speak lies. Whereas if one tells 
lies and keeps on doing this he will 
in time be held as in a vise, and find 
it well-nigh impossible to speak the 
truth. It would seem then that 
habits are customs which build them- 
selves into our physical and mental 
nerves until they become at last a 
[37] 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

real part of our very self. " It is 
second nature' ' men sometimes say, 
meaning by this that some one has 
done a certain thing so many times 
that it is done at last without thought, 
and seems to be only the expression 
of a man's deepest self. It would 
seem then that habits are really jail- 
ers, and hold those whom they take 
possession of tenaciously in their 
grip. Every soul, no matter what 
it thinks and says, is a slave, and its 
freedom lies in its opportunity to say 
who its master shall be. Paul before 
his conversion was a slave, and his 
cry was, " O wretched man that I 
am ! who shall deliver me from the 
body of this death ? " After his con- 
version he was also a slave, and such 
he subscribes himself in many of his 
letters; but his cry now was a shout 
of triumph and of rejoicing in the 
[38] 



HABITS 



Master whose brand he bore. In 
one case Paul's prison was a dungeon ; 
in the second case the prison was a 
palace. Bad habits cast us into the 
dungeon, good habits seat us at the 
banquet table of the King. 

It is worth noting that a man's 
habits are his own. He does not 
inherit them from his ancestors nor 
are they thrust upon him by his sur- 
roundings. We are all exposed to 
accidents but no one can have an 
accidental habit. We may all have 
misfortunes, but never in the shape 
of a habit. A habit is a man's own 
creation, formed by multitudinous 
acts of the will. If you have a bad 
habit you have yourself to blame, 
and while you may pity a man 
whose life is cursed by a habit that 
is evil, along with your pity should 
go a certain measure of condemna- 
[39] 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

tion. We are never quite true to 
the facts when we excuse men for 
wrong action because their habits 
are tyrannical and bad. The soul 
that allows his lower nature to de- 
velop into a capricious tyrant must 
bear the consequences of his persist- 
ent misuse of the will. Sit down, 
then, with your habits, look them 
quietly in the face. Say to them, 
" You are mine, I created you ; you 
could not have been without my 
consent; I have worked for years in 
making you what you are; I take 
the responsibility of what you are 
and do." This at least is honest, 
and is the first step in the work of 
overcoming habits which are bad. 

It is important that beginning 

Christians should see at the very 

start the tremendous power of habit, 

and should set themselves at once to 

[40] 



HABITS 



the work of forming habits which 
are good. Youth is the time when 
habits must be formed, for it is then 
that the muscles of both the body 
and the mind are most plastic and 
yield themselves most readily to the 
molding touch of the controlling 
will. Men can add years to their 
life simply by establishing good 
habits at the beginning. A good 
habit is the greatest of all time- 
savers. What an interminable piece 
of work it would be to walk if we 
did not in the early years master 
this difficult accomplishment! So 
much time would it take were we 
obliged to think about each action 
in the intricate process that there 
would be little time for anything 
else. But -by practising the art of 
walking in childhood when we have 
nothing else to do, it becomes at 
[41] 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

last second nature, and through the 
remainder of our lives we walk 
without thinking, giving our strength 
and our time to the work which 
God has given us to do. So it is 
with every habit; it enables us to do 
easily and naturally what would 
otherwise be done laboriously and 
with wasteful expenditure of time, 
and he can do most in a day who, 
other things being equal, has estab- 
lished the largest number of best 
habits. When one does right 
things habitually he really begins 
to live. 

There are a few habits to whose 
building a young Christian should 
set himself with apostolic devotion 
and resolution. One of these is the 
habit of attending public worship. 
This may seem to some of you 
rather a formal and unimportant 

[42] 



HABITS 

matter, but the future of Christianity 
is involved in this habit. " Do not 
forsake the assembling of yourselves 
together/' wrote a wise man cen- 
turies ago, and he said it when 
men ran the risk of sacrificing their 
lives by being caught in a Christian 
service. The practise of going to 
church should be begun early and 
should be persevered in diligently 
without intermission and in spite of 
obstacles no matter how many or 
immense. God is a God of routine, 
and he rejoices in repetitions. There 
are certain things which he does 
every year, and in not one year of 
all the years has he failed to repeat 
the acts which he performed when 
years first began. Certain other 
things he does every month, and 
certain other things every day, and 
in the doing of them there has been 
[43] 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

from the beginning neither break 
nor variation. He is without vari- 
ableness or shadow of turning. No 
life can be blessed which is not 
subjected to routine. No soul can 
grow strong which despises the irk- 
someness of repetition. There are 
certain things which we must do 
every day. If we do not do them 
we are less than men. Other things 
must be done every week and if 
these are omitted the soul suffers 
loss. A follower of Jesus ought to 
form the habit of worshiping God 
with his fellow Christians in the 
house of prayer on every Lord's 
Day. This was Jesus' custom and 
his disciples ought to follow his 
example. Nothing but duty should 
ever break the established routine 
and order. There is a vast difference 
between going to church occasion- 
al 



HABITS 



ally and going to church habitually. 
The habitual churchgoer comes to 
have not only a different feeling but 
also a different character. One 
needs this habit of church attendance 
to beat back the flood of opposing 
forces which will otherwise come 
rushing in. 

Our greatest fight in this world is 
with the weather, and weather is of 
two sorts, external and internal. 
Internal weather usually goes by 
the name of mood or feeling. Alas 
for the Christian who allows himself 
to get "under the weather !" He 
is a frail and puny creature, who 
will never wear a crown. Any 
youth who allows himself when in 
good health to be kept from church 
by a shower has a defect in his char- 
acter which needs immediate atten- 
tion. No shower has ever been 
U5] 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

known to keep a Christian from a 
wedding party or a banquet or an 
entertainment for which the ticket 
was already bought, and therefore 
absence from church on account of 
the weather is always a piece of hy- 
pocrisy of which honest people 
should be heartily ashamed. It is 
the internal weather by which we 
are too often controlled, and one 
has made but scant progress in the 
high art of living who has not 
learned to master his moods. What 
difference ought it to make to a 
Christian whether on a particular 
Sunday he feels like going to church 
or not? Feelings are only winds, 
and expert sailors are not controlled 
by the winds, nor are masterful 
Christians the victims of their feel- 
ings. Inclination is only the lurch 
of the soul caused by the stir of blind 
[46] 



HABITS 

forces which must be controlled by 
the power of the will. Life never 
is worth living so long as we are the 
sport of our moods. Fix it once for 
all that the place of the Christian 
on the Lord's Day is in the house 
of prayer and that nothing but duty 
shall ever keep you out of your 
place, and you have taken a long 
step toward ultimate and glorious 
victory. 

And what I have said about the 
habit of attending public worship 
can be said with equal emphasis about 
the habit of praying, the habit of 
Bible study, the habit of giving, 
the habit of working, and the habit 
of cooperating. Fight your na- 
tive inclinations and resist your nat- 
ural tendencies and curb your carnal 
impulses, compelling yourself by 
repetition to do those things which 
[47] 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

you know are pleasing to God until 
at last you can say with Paul : " It is 
not I but Christ who dwelleth in me 
who is winning the victory ! y 



48 



IV 

ATTENDING MEETINGS 



IV 

ATTENDING MEETINGS 

THE Christian religion reen- 
forces the native instincts and 
aptitudes of our nature. It makes 
human bei ngs more social ; it 
brings them closer together. It in- 
creases the cravings for fellowship 
and widens the joys of it. Christians 
when normal want to come together; 
the impulse to do so is spontaneous 
and irresistible. In the darkest days 
of persecution the Lord's disciples 
have met together by night if not by 
day, and in caves and desert places if 
not in churches or homes. The fag- 
ots of bigots and the swords of kings 
have never been able to keep Chris- 
[51] 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

tians apart. They know instinctively 
that the life of the heart depends upon 
fellowship and that the very existence 
of Christianity hangs upon meetings. 
It is in meetings that the sacred fire 
is kept burning in which the iniquity 
of the world is to be consumed. 
There is immeasurable meaning in 
Christ's words : " Where two or 
three are gathered together in my 
name, there am I in the midst of 
them." He is of course present 
with the solitary worshiper in his 
closet, but with no such fulness of 
joy or power as when Christians 
are together. There are promises 
to those who pray alone, but the 
great promises are to those who pray 
together. 

It is well to state these facts and 
to ponder them, for there is much 
bewildered thought concerning the 
[52] 



ATTENDING MEETINGS 

value and uses of meetings. Many- 
sarcastic things are said about the 
people who are always going to 
meeting, and so many things are de- 
clared to be more important than 
attending meetings that it would be 
strange if an impression did not root 
itself in many hearts that attending 
meetings is an elective and often- 
times a nuisance. The non-church- 
goer becomes hilarious at the expense 
of the superstitious mortals who 
think that they can get to heaven 
by attending meetings, and the 
young churchgoer, bewildered by 
this scoffing mirth, begins to wonder 
if, after all, attending meetings is 
so important as certain old-fash- 
ioned people imagine. A surpris- 
ingly plausible argument can be 
made by an adroit critic against the 
value of church meetings. When 
[53] 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

it is asserted with an air of omnis- 
cience that the great King of heaven 
does not need either the praise or 
prayer of insignificant creatures like 
us, and that the time spent in attend- 
ing meetings if spent in doing good 
would bring the millennium appre- 
ciably nearer, and when suggestive 
contrasts are made between the hypo- 
crites who sing hymns and the well- 
nigh perfect people who never sing 
hymns at all, and when to clinch the 
argument we are introduced once 
more to the well-known foolish 
woman who drove her husband to 
drink, and her children into the 
streets because instead of making a 
home she was always at meeting, — 
such an argument is sometimes suffi- 
cient to upset a big boy who is in 
the last year in the high school or 
to shake the conviction of a young 
[54] 



ATTENDING MEETINGS 

woman who has already entered 
college. 

But many statements, like certain 
men, are not so wise as they look. 
An argument may strut like a drum- 
major, but be after all little more 
than gilt buttons and a plume. It 
is not to be denied that meetings 
like all other good things are capa- 
ble of abuse, but it is unwise to con- 
demn a thing because somebody has 
misused it. People who deal in 
wholesale condemnations do not use 
their minds as much as they ought. 
Nothing is so important for a begin- 
ning Christian as the constant use of 
his brain. The power of discrimi- 
nation is one of the most useful of 
all gifts, and it is worth noting that 
the spirit of wisdom is both coveted 
and prayed for by prophets and 
apostles. 

[55] 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

Let us concede then that attend- 
ing meetings is only one form of 
Christian service, and that there may 
be too many meetings, and that the 
meetings may be attended in a way 
which brings no blessings, and that 
even foolish and bad people have 
been known to like to go to church. 
What then ? All such facts and a 
hundred others like them leave un- 
touched the impregnable truth that 
in the economy of God for the edu- 
cation of souls, meetings are a fixed 
and invaluable feature, and that when 
rightly used they are an unfailing 
means of grace to the soul which 
wishes to apprehend that for which 
it has been apprehended by Christ. 

The use of a religious meeting is 

twofold. First of all it is testimony. 

It is a form of confession ; it bears 

witness before the world to Christ's 

[56] 



ATTENDING MEETINGS 

goodness and power. It is evidence 
that he is working ; it is proof 
that human hearts have received his 
grace. Every meeting is a contri- 
bution of the Lord's followers to the 
Lord's cause. It is by this united 
testimony that impressions are made 
upon the community. Public atten- 
tion is arrested and popular interest 
is awakened. Christianity is a mis- 
sionary religion ; it is always seeking 
the sheep that is lost. Its eyes are 
ever toward the prodigal. A meet- 
ing is the ringing of the bell to at- 
tract the prodigal's attention. It is 
a trumpet note calling men every- 
where to prepare for battle. It is 
Christ's appointed way of saying to 
the crowd, " Come unto me ! " 
This is the first purpose of a reli- 
gious meeting, and the second is to 
build up the life of the followers of 
[57] 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

Jesus that they may be more effect- 
ive in his service. 

A meeting, then, is first of all a 
form of work. This should never 
be overlooked. Its fundamental pur- 
pose is to help others. It is a sacri- 
fice which Christians offer for the 
salvation of the world. When this 
fact is forgotten meetings degenerate 
into a formal or pernicious thing. 
If the meeting is a form of luxury, 
a scheme for entertaining professing 
Christians, a contrivance for minis- 
tering to the culture of those who 
claim to be servants of the Son of 
God, then it has lost the Christian 
secret and all sorts of sad things are 
sure to follow. First of all will 
come the temptation for Christians 
to measure all meetings by the 
amount of personal satisfaction re- 
ceived. A Christian will go to 
[58] 



ATTENDING MEETINGS 

church saying, " I wonder what I 
will get/ 5 and he will often come 
away saying, " I did not get much." 
If on Sunday morning he is not con- 
scious of any special need he will 
not go to church at all. If he goes 
to the morning service he will not 
go in the evening, for, he says, " I 
can get all I need in a single serv- 
ice." He measures everything by 
the standard of his own felt need, — 
and in doing this he ceases to be a 
Christian altogether. A Christian 
is one who lives for others. He 
places the emphasis on giving and 
not on getting. He acts upon the 
principle that it is more blessed to 
give than to receive. Church at- 
tendance is to him an opportunity to 
serve. He goes to church primarily 
to communicate, and in the act of 
giving he knows will come an ex- 
[59] 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

ceeding great reward. By the losing 
of himself he saves his soul, by dying 
to himself he rises into a more abun- 
dant life. This is the secret of a 
genuinely Christian meeting. One 
who attends in a Christian spirit 
pours into the service from start to 
finish a generous contribution. It 
becomes his service because he pours 
into it his own energy and life. Of 
course he gets, but he gets because 
he gives. A service becomes full- 
toned, penetrating, and uplifting 
when the Spirit of the Lord is in it. 
There are five forms of meetings 
common in all our churches, and 
the principle above unfolded is ap- 
plicable to all. There is first of all 
the meeting for worship, with its 
exposition of Christian truth ; there 
is a meeting for Bible study by 
means of question and answer ; there 
f6ol 



ATTENDING MEETINGS 

is a meeting for praise and prayer 
and testimony concerning the trials 
and triumphs of the Christian life; 
there is a meeting for conference in 
regard to Christ's work at home and 
abroad; and there is a meeting for 
social intercourse in which the 
bounds of acquaintanceship are ex- 
tended and the bonds of fellowship 
drawn closer and strengthened. To 
all these meetings the follower of 
Christ should come praying for grace 
that he may make a contribution 
which God can use for the building 
up of the Church and the saving 
of the world. 

It is often a practical and puzzling 
question how many meetings should 
be attended on the Lord's Day, and 
how many in the course of a week. 
No rule can be given. It is possi- 
ble to attend too few and it is possi- 
[61] 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

ble to attend too many. One must 
take into account the needs of the 
community, the condition of the 
church, the state of one's health, 
the character of one's work, the 
number of one's home and school 
and social responsibilities and duties, 
and then do the thing which prom- 
ises on the whole best to advance 
the interests of the kingdom of God. 



62 



V 
WORK AS A DEVELOPER 



WORK AS A DEVELOPER 

MEN are unfolded and built 
up by work. This is not 
doubted outside the realm of religion. 
The world can scarcely contain the 
books written in illustration of the 
value of labor. The blacksmith's 
arm and the farmer's frame have 
been used as arguments and spurs to 
effort, and the muscles of leg and 
back are not different at this point 
from the muscles of the mind. It 
is one of the A. B. C.'s in the world 
of intellect that only the man who 
works grows. That development is 
conditioned on the exercise of one's 
powers is an axiom which no one 
takes the trouble even to question. 

5 [65] 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

The amazing revelation of all great 
biographies is the stupendous amount 
of work done by those whom the 
world cares to remember. That 
man must eat his bread in the sweat 
of his brow is true in the realm of 
the body and in the kingdom of the 
intellect. 

It is a pity that the spiritual life 
should ever have been thought of as 
lying under a different law. Religion 
has often started in magic and it is 
difficult for the mind to break away 
from the idea that in the spiritual 
kingdom there is a sleight-of-hand 
way of doing things which only the 
divine Necromancer can hope to 
understand. If one could only be 
as sensible in his religion as he is in 
his business or play, two-thirds of all 
the difficulties of the Christian life 
would vanish. 

[66 1 



WORK AS A DEVELOPER 

Ruskin used to say, "When I 
hear a young man spoken of as giv- 
ing promise of high genius, the first 
question I ask about him is always 
— Does he work?" And when I 
hear of a young man who has made 
a confession of Christ, the first ques- 
tion I want to ask is — Does he 
intend to work ? Genius is worth 
little without labor, and neither is 
even the gift of the Holy Spirit in 
conversion. Without work divine 
gifts are frittered away and divine 
opportunities are forfeited. 

Being a Christian is working, but 
all working is not Christian ; and 
therefore we must complete the 
sentence by saying, Being a Christian 
is working for God, which means of 
course working for mankind ; and 
this, being interpreted, means striv- 
ing to help as many human beings 
[67] 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

as one is able to reach. Happy is 
the Christian who has grasped the 
idea that the Christian life is work ! 
It was thus that Jesus conceived it. 
As a boy he felt that he must be 
about his Father's business. As a 
man he declared that it was his meat 
to do the will of him who sent him, 
and to finish his work. At the 
close of his life he could say in 
speaking to God : " I have finished 
the work which thou gavest me to 
do." Life to Jesus was a piece of 
work to be performed, and he asked 
his disciples to follow him. The 
apostles were all indefatigable work- 
ers, and it was by their labor that 
they turned the world upside down. 
The statement of the good news in 
the New Testament is followed by a 
record of Acts, and unless a begin- 
ning Christian follows up his confes- 

[68 1 



WORK AS A DEVELOPER 

sion of Christ with a volume of 
deeds he will early begin to question 
whether or not he is a Christian at 
all. 

It is helpful to conceive of every 
duty of the Christian life under the 
form of work. Even prayer is in a 
sense a piece of work, and so is every 
part of public worship. If Christians 
felt each Sunday that they had a 
piece of important work to do they 
would be more likely to carry into 
the church service something of the 
enthusiasm and energy which they 
display in secular affairs. The only 
reason that religious worship is ever 
irksome and unrewarding is because 
so many dawdle through it and 
bring to it the listlessness of a vacant 
mind. Loafers cannot expect the 
divine blessing either in the church 
or out of it. Fatalism has always 
[69] 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

haunted the mind of religious people, 
and to lie passive in the hands of the 
Eternal has been ever a favorite way 
of going to heaven. Too many 
churchgoers attend church to be 
played upon by music, or to have 
ideas pumped into them by the 
preacher, but public worship, like 
blacksmithing and farming, is wari f 
and only those who throw them- 
selves into it by an expenditure of 
intellectual and moral force can 
hope to receive a reward. We are 
colaborers with God, and it is only 
as we work with him that it is pos- 
sible for him to work with us. In 
everv department of our life we are 
to work out our own salvation with 
fear and trembling, never allowing 
ourselves to slacken our efforts 
through discouragement, for through 
the forthputting of our energy God 
[70] 



WORK AS A DEVELOPER 

finds it possible to work out his own 
good pleasure. 

Many a Christian fails in the 
Christian life for no other cause 
than laziness. Many a church 
dwindles and dies because it is made 
up too largely of sluggards. Chris- 
tians ought to be the busiest and 
most energetic people in the world. 
They ought to labor in season and 
out of season. They ought to spend 
and be spent. They ought to 
abound more and more in every 
good word and work. If they refuse 
to labor they check the processes of 
spiritual development and instead of 
becoming adults in the faith they 
remain babes unable to digest even 
milk. Arrested development is a 
common fact in the vegetable and 
animal worlds ; in the moral world 
it is tragedy. What so saddens the 
[7i] 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

heart of a lover of Christ and of men 
is the large number of professing 
Christians whose native powers are 
atrophied and whose natural abilities 
are undeveloped, all because they are 
unwilling to perform any genuine 
labor. There is divine wisdom in 
the multiplied warnings of the Scrip- 
ture against inactivity and sloth, and 
God never grows weary in urging 
us, through prophets and apostles, to 
do with our might what our hands 
find to do. Whether a person works 
or not is for each person to decide 
for himself. In the realm of the 
spirit no one's labor can dispense 
with the labor of another. College 
professors cannot make a scholar. 
They can only assist young men 
who are willing to work to make 
themselves scholars. Physicians can- 
not manufacture a drop of blood. 
[72] 



WORK AS A DEVELOPER 

They can assist those who are willing 
to work for the upbuilding of their 
body. Preachers cannot create a 
virtue. They can aid those who are 
industrious in the work of developing 
their character. 

Not a few Christians have a 
quarrel with Jesus because his 
promises have never been fulfilled. 
The New Testament speaks often of 
peace and joy and power, and to all 
of these many a disappointed heart 
is still a stranger. But before one 
condemns the Lord of life for fail- 
ing to make good his word let him 
read the book of The Acts which he 
has written, and ascertain how faith- 
fully he has done the things appointed 
him to do, for it is only the good 
and faithful servant who is permitted 
to enter into the joy of his Lord. 
Work is a means of grace, a school 
[73] 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

of character. By work we build up 
the virtues and coax the graces into 
bloom. By work we get out of 
the prison of fear, and escape from 
the dungeon of hate. By work the 
sacred fire is kindled, and by work 
the heart tastes of the rapture which 
the redeemed know. Work is the 
one stimulus which lasts. Fill the 
week with work for Christ and you 
will be hungry for the Bread of life 
when Sunday comes. If a man will 
not work neither shall he become 
hungry for the bread which comes 
down from heaven. If you are 
working now, work harder. If you 
are doing much, do more. Only 
busy men were called by Jesus, and 
no others are called now. If we 
do our work well we are rewarded 
by being allowed to work still 
harder. 

[74] 



WORK AS A DEVELOPER 

This is a mystery until one under- 
stands that work is God's agency for 
developing immortal souls, and that 
it is only by the unfolding of the 
powers that are within us that we 
are able to enter into the peace and 
joy of the Eternal, and to sit down 
with Jesus in his throne. 



75] 



VI 

WORKING FOR THE CONVERSION 
OF ONE'S COMPANIONS 



VI 

WORKING FOR THE CONVERSION 
OF ONE'S COMPANIONS 

TT is a mistake to suppose that 
-*■ one must reach a certain age or 
get into a particular place before he 
can become an effective Christian 
worker. The most difficult and 
important work is within our reach 
from the start. It is dangerous to 
think that any period of life is a 
period of preparation in any such 
sense as to release one from the 
obligations of Christian living. 
Boys and girls in school and young 
people in college are not simply 
preparing for life, they are living 
now or ought to be; and if their 
[79] 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

life at the present moment is not 
full-toned and Christ-full they are 
not fulfilling their destiny as human 
beings, nor are they fitting them- 
selves for the maturer life which is 
yet to be. There is a sense, of 
course, in which youth is prepara- 
tory, but our entire earthly life is just 
that also ; still life at every point 
ought to be full-orbed, and work 
which one's hands and tongue and 
heart find to do ought never to be 
postponed under the impression that 
there are certain periods in which 
we may be excused from complete 
living on the ground that we are 
getting ready to live later on. 

Now no one, no matter what his 
age, is living as a Christian ought to 
live who is not striving for the con- 
version of those who are nearest 
him. It is of the essence of the 
[80] 



WORKING FOR CONVERSION 

Christian life to work to make 
others Christians. The New Testa- 
ment is careful to tell us how, as 
soon as one man found Jesus, the 
impulse seized him to go in search 
of a friend or brother. This was 
natural and inevitable in the apos- 
tolic age, and it is normal and to be 
expected in all ages, whenever and 
wherever the instinctive movements 
of the quickened heart are allowed 
to express themselves in outer con- 
duct. To hold back or crush out 
the native impulses of the awakened 
heart is one of the ways of quench- 
ing the spirit and maiming character 
and dwarfing life. Even though 
the impulse may not be strong at 
first, it should not be despised. 
Christ is so careful of spiritual fire 
that even smoking wicks he will 
not quench, and those who follow 

6 [81] 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

his example will guard with care 
every hint of flame discoverable 
within them. There are forces 
within and without to hold one 
back from doing a genuinely noble 
and useful deed, and a beginning 
Christian, especially if he be young 
and self-distrustful, must be prepared 
to overcome battalions of scruples 
and hesitations and voices of worldly 
wisdom if he is to begin at once to 
work for the enlargement of the 
circle of Christ's disciples. It is 
difficult. Of course it is! One 
may make mistakes. To be sure he 
may ! Others will sneer and say 
cutting things. Indeed they will! 
Many a youth has been caught and 
held fast by his doubts and shrink- 
ings until the initial impulse to 
work for others has died within 
him, and he has settled down in the 
[82] 



WORKING FOR CONVERSION 

smug conclusion that only special 
persons with particular gifts have a 
right to venture upon a work so 
hazardous and exacting. 

It is a fact not to be forgotten 
that human beings are influenced 
easily and profoundly by those who 
are of equal age. Companionship 
is possible between those whose ages 
are far apart, but all such com- 
panionship is exceptional, and it is 
the order of the world that one 
shall find his closest comrades and 
dearest friends among those whose 
years are approximately equal. 
Parents, to be sure, influence their 
children, teachers their pupils, aged 
saints young men and maidens, but 
the influence of a boy or girl over 
those associated with him or her in 
work and play is one of the might- 
iest of the controlling forces of this 
[83] 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 






world. Parents send their boys to 
school, says Emerson, but it is the 
boys he meets in the street who 
educate him. 

The power which young people 
exert upon the characters and lives 
of their companions is immeasurable, 
and all the more penetrating and 
powerful because so often unpre- 
meditated and unconscious. Dis- 
parity in age, say what we will, 
constitutes a barrier which is not 
easily surmounted. Children often 
feel that their parents do not under- 
stand them — they were born so 
long ago. Pupils feel that the 
teacher is on a throne in a separate 
world. Every preacher in the six- 
ties knows that with all his accumu- 
lated wisdom and experience there 
are things which he cannot now do 
so well as when he was in the upper 
[8 4 ] 



WORKING FOR CONVERSION 

twenties. Avenues were opened 
then which have long since been 
closed, and the distance between his 
heart and the hearts of school chil- 
dren has been lengthened not by 
his own fault or volition but by the 
inexorable will and way of God. 
Age has yet its honors and its toils, 
but youth also has privileges and 
prerogatives, crowns and opportu- 
nities to which the hoary head even 
though found in the way of right- 
eousness cannot lay claim. The 
universal inclination of young 
people to flock together, of middle- 
aged people to associate with one 
another, of aged people to seek 
companionship with those whose 
years are equal to their own, is one 
of the things ordained of God to be 
made use of by those who belong 
to Christ and desire to extend his 
[85] 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

kingdom. A living boy of sixteen 
can get nearer to another living boy 
of sixteen than can one who is as wise 
as the wisest saint whose dust lies in 
Westminster Abbey. A wide-awake 
girl can get closer to another girl of 
her own age than can any mother 
II) Israel however sweet and holy. 

What an opportunity, then, for 
every voung Christian who wishes 

to do original and effective work for 
Christ! lie can approach souls 
which are inaccessible to the wit 

of the sages and the holiest of the 
saints. The limited measure of his 
experience fit! him to he a minister 
to those whose experience has similar 
limitations, and his very ignorance 
helps him to pass through doors 
which remain locked to those who 
carry huge hunches ot the keys of 
knowledge. 

[86 1 



WORKING FOR CONVERSION 

It is a thought to make the heart 
sing that no matter how inexperi- 
enced and obscure one is, there is 
some one in the world whom it is 
easier for him to reach with the 
everlasting gospel than it is for 
anybody else. It is a solemnizing 
thought that there are things which 
a boy can do which a man cannot 

do bo easily or bo well, and that cer- 
tain work it left undone under 
twenty can never be done in this 
world at all. The tact to be remem- 
bered is that young Christians have 
their work just as older Christians 

have their-, and that the work of 
boys and girl-, young men and 
maidens, is just a- Important in its 
place tor the upbuilding of this 
world as is the work ot adults to 
which the Lord God has called 
them. Age can no more do the 
[«7] 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

work ot youth than youth can do 
what age is called to do. Every 
Christian, no matter what his years, 
should count himself a missionary, 
and his special parish is the circle o\ 

his acquaintances and friends. If 

his lamp shines so feebly that those 
who are nearest to him are not 
influenced by it, it is because the 

light ill him has become darkness or 
because in a fit oi morbid humility 
he has, contrary to the Lord's com- 
mand, gotten under the bushel. 



ss 



VII 
HELPING THE PASTOR 



I 



VII 

HELPING THE PASTOR 

IN what way can young Chris- 
tians in our days render effective 
assistance to the church ? 

One way is by strengthening the 
hands of church officials. It is a 
mistake to look upon church offi- 
cials as though they were a class 
apart. They are all poor mortals of 
like passions with the youngest of 
you, only brethren to whom have 
been assigned special tasks for the 
good of all. 

Sometimes a chasm seems to yawn 
between the office-bearers and all the 
young people of a church, and such 
a chasm works boundless mischief. 
Young people ought to know all the 
[91] 



TALKS ON BIGH THEMES 

officers of the church, and never al- 
low themselves to feel that these 
dignified personages are made of 
superior stuff or have anv better right 
to a place in the church than the 
boyfl and girls who have |U8t taken 
their first communion. If a church 

official should perchance he stiff or 
distant or somewhat grim, why not 

throw upon him loving glances of 
eyes that are friendly, and warm his 
cold heart by coming closer to him : 
It is a pity that voung people should 
ever harbor ill feelings against their 
elder-, even though their elders mav 
not be entirely Unable or altogether 

wise. Young people help the church 
amazinelv bv cultivating a sunnv 
temper and by showing themselves 
Sympathetic, kind, and sweet. In 
the words of Paul, " We be-cech vou 
to know them that labor among 
[9»] 



HELPING THE PASTOR 

you, and are over you in the 
Lord/ 1 

One of the most important and 
hardest worked officials of a church 
is the Sunday-school superintendent. 
His work is taxing and he has dis- 
couragements not a tew. He needs 
the inspiration which young people 
have to give. The Sunday-schoo] 
is the church in the act of studying 

the Scriptures In' question and an- 
swer. In helping the school one is 

helping the church ; in building up 
the school one builds Up the church. 
Whatever help, therefore, is given to 

the superintendent is a contribution 
made to the cause of Christ. In the 

school there are manv who are not 
professing Christians. Their pr 
ence creates an opportunity tor you 
who are members ol the church. 

By your punctuality and studious- 

[ 93 I 



TALKS ON HK'iH THEMES 

ness and earnestness of purpose you 
can give tone and character to the 
school and make it easier for the 
school to accomplish the work given 
it to do. 

The minister always counts on 
his young people. Mam- persons in 
middle and later life cannot wisely 
attend the evening service ; voung 
people with tew exceptions can. 
The mid-week meeting IS for manv 
business men and tor manv women, 

also, an impossibility. But voung 

people as a rule can give the church 
an evening every week it they will. 
One's presence helps. A human 
soul exerts more influence than we 

dream. Each one contributes to the 
heat of the meeting. Heat IS what 
IS needed most. Vacant chairs or 
peW8 chill the mind and benumb the 
heart. When the room is full the 
[94] 



HELPING THE PASTOR 

word of the Lord runs and is glori- 
fied. Young people can, therefore, 
create an atmosphere in which the 
words of the preacher take fire and 
burn. They can increase the recep- 
tiveness of those who listen and aug- 
ment the enthusiasm of the on^ who 
speaks. A speaker sends back in 
flood what he receives in spray. It 
is out of fresh and forward-looking 
hearts that the Spray comes with 
which the preacher drenches his 
congregation. It ought never to be 
forgotten that the sermon is preached 
not simply by the man in the pulpit 

but by every Christian witness in the 

room. It was not simplv Peter's 
words on the Day of Pentecost which 

broke the hearts oi three thousand 
men, but the light on the faces and 
the fire in the hearts of the one hun- 
dred and twenty witnesses who stood 
[95] 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

beside him bearing testimony to the 
truth of what he said. Young peo- 
ple can help the preacher preach! 

In pastoral service also there are 
wide doors and effectual. Accord- 
ing to the New Testament every 
Christian is in the truest sense a pas- 
tor, a shepherd of souls. The spirit 
has been poured upon all, and there- 
fore all must cooperate in the great 
enterprise of the world's redemp- 
tion. To single out one man or 
one little group of men, and say, 
"To you and you alone belongs the 
work of pastoral service, is going 
contrary to the entire New Testa- 
ment. It is because this pastoral 
work has been left so largely to the 
minister that the church limps and 
hobbles on her way. The pastoral 
work of the church cannot be done 
by any one minister, or any staff of 
[96] 



HELPING THE PASTOR 

salaried workers; it is done rightly 
only when it is done by the entire 
company of Christian disciples. 
From this work young people ought 
not to hold themselves aloof. They 
must supplement the work of the 
pastor and the deacons and the other 
adult members by energetic and per- 
sistent work of their own. 

How can the pastor look after all 
the young men in his congregation ? 
Let each male church-member look 
after one. How can the pastor over- 
see and guide all the young women 
in his parish ? Thev must be shep- 
herded by the young women who are 
Christians, befriended and led up- 
ward one by one. How can the 
minister speak to all the unconverted 
in the town? They must be invited 
one by one by those who have given 
themselves to Jesus. Is there a sick 
' [97] 



TALKS ON BIGH THEMES 

woman to be read to ? God has ap- 
pointed some young woman in the 
church to read. Is there a sick man 
to be sung to? God has ordained 
some one in the church to sing. 
Are there bundles of good things to 
be carried to the poor ? Certainly 
the young people are the ones to 
carry them. Are there hospitals to 
be visited ? What light will BO cause 
the wards to glow as the radiance 
which streams trom the eves ol young 
men and maidens who, like their 
Master, know the joy of doing good ! 
I started with a title which I do 
not like. I wrote it because it is a 
phrase in common use. Hut instead 
of saying, u Helping the Pastor " it 
is better to say, u Helping the Mas- 
ter" — u Helping the Church. " It 
is possible for one actuated by friendly 
feelings to help the pastor, and 
[98] 



HELPING THE PASTOR 

after all lose the spirit and the joy 
of genuinely Christian service. If 
you desire simply to help the pastor 
you may get tired sometime of help- 
ing him, or you may have a pastor 
some day with whom it may not be 
easy or pleasant to work. But if 
your aim is to cooperate with Jesus 
in the building of a church which 
shall be the shrine of his Spirit and 
the home of his disciples, you will 
never grow weary, and at the end ot 
the day you will still be found work- 
ing — for his yoke is easy and his 
burden is light. 



99 



VIII 



PREPARING TO TEACH IN THE 
SUNDAY-SCHOOL 



VIII 

PREPARING TO TEACH IN THE 
SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

r | ^HE New Testament holds us 
-*- fast to the fact that the supreme 
work of a Christian is building up 
the Church of Christ. The Church 
is His body. Every Christian is an 
organ of that body, with a specific 
work to do. Because every Christian 
is called to service, every Christian 
is gifted. All gifts are necessary, 
honorable, God-given. No one of 
them is to be despised. All must 
be used in the building of the 
Church. 

But gifts are of different ranks. 
Some are greater than others, and 
more to be desired. Gifts are graded 
[ 103] 



TALKS ON BIGH THEMES 

according to their usefulness. A 
serviceable gift takes precedence over 
a gift which is simply brilliant or 
showy. Paul urges us to desire ear- 
nestly the greater gifts. We are to be 
ambitious. We are to make the most 
of ourselves and to fill the largest 
place DOS8ible in the Church of God. 
Of all the gilts which men can use 
ID the building ol the Church none 
can be counted greater than the gift 
of teaching. There are gilts more 
showy, but none more useful. The 
religion of [estlfl is the truth, and 
truth must be taught. The Scrip- 
tures contain the oracles oi Cod, but 
they are not understood unless ex- 
plained. The New Testament holds 
the principles round which the 
world's life must organize itself, but 
these principles do not woo and win 
the heart until they are unfolded and 
[104] 



PREPARING TO TEACH 

made glorious by some one who un- 
derstands them. The work of teach- 
ing does not belong to any one man ; 
it is a work committed to the saints. 
There must be in every parish many 
teachers, else many hearts and minds 
must remain uninstructed. No min- 
ister can do all the teaching needed 
by his people. There arc little boys 
and girls, big boys and girls, youths 
and maidens, and older folks of many 
needs and stations who must be gath- 
ered into groups around the Bible, 
and fed, some with milk, and some 
with meat, according to their ages, 
capacities and tempers. Pulpit teach- 
ing has a high and enduring place in 
the Church ot God, but it can never 
take the place of Bible teaching by 
the method of question and answer. 
The church must be a school, and its 
highest function is that of teaching. 
f io*l 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

Here then is a field for which 
young Christians ought to be pre- 
paring. The problem of religious 
education is the problem of our cen- 
tury. The rising generation is not 
receiving either in the home or in 
the public school the moral instruc- 
tion which will keep a nation strong, 
and nowhere else can the Church 
render such far-reaching service as 
in the Sunday-school. Many other 
forms of work are honorable and 
useful, but in the urgency of the 
need of it, and in the importance 
of the results of it, Bible teaching 
outranks them all. God to-day is 
calling, "Who will go into the 
Sunday-school and teach ? " Blessed 
is the church in which many a young 
Christian is saying, " Here am I, 
send me ! " 

After the consecration to the work 
f 106I 



PREPARING TO TEACH 

several years must be devoted to care- 
ful preparation. This preparation 
cannot be begun too soon. Many 
grown-up Christians refuse to teach 
because they are not equipped. 
They are not fitted because they 
did not, years ago, enter upon a 
course of preparation. Teachers 
do not spring up by chance. No 
one becomes a teacher in his sleep. 
The teaching gift, like all other 
gifts, must be cultivated through 
a term of years, and boys and 
girls of fifteen and even younger 
ought to be encouraged to look for- 
ward to the time when they shall be 
teachers in the school. 

The starting-point is a desire to 
be the most useful Christian possi- 
ble. Everything depends upon the 
desire. Let no one be discouraged by 
his meager outfit, or because he does 
[107] 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

not discern in himself those gifts 
which seem essential to the work of 
teaching. It is not what one has at 
the beginning, but what one wants 
to have at the end which counts for 
most in the upbuilding of a life. 
We are to covet the greater gifts. 
God's gifts are not tossed to us out 
of heaven ; they are built up in us 
by our own strivings assisted by the 
grace divine. The cardinal question 
is, " Do you want to teach ? Would 
you prefer above all things else the 
privilege of Bible teaching?" If 
this is your desire you are on the 
way to become a successful teacher. 
You can never be a teacher unless 
you want to be one, and if you long 
to be one with heart and soul and 
strength, God is not likely to deny 
your high ambition. 

Having decided that, God willing, 
[108] 



PREPARING TO TEACH 

you will be a teacher, then pursue a 
course of life which will develop in 
you those gifts and graces which are 
indispensable in a teacher's work. 
No other form of Christian service 
demands so large a group of graces, 
or subjects the character to so severe 
a strain as the work of Bible teach- 
ing. What patience is needed, and 
what fidelity, punctuality, industry, 
alertness, courage, sympathy, persist- 
ency, sacrifice and faith in God ! 
One must be willing to be a servant, 
to give up his time and strength, to 
lose himself, in order to receive a 
teacher's reward. But what a re- 
ward it is ! He enters into the pas- 
sion and joy of his Lord ! 

Through the years of preparation 

pray without ceasing for the docile 

heart and the open mind, and for the 

unfolding of all those faculties which 

[109] 



TALKS ON II I (.II THEMES 

teachers need. Along with the pray- 
ing must go incessant study of the 
Scriptures, pen and note-hook care- 
fully garnering harvests gleaned from 

many fields. New life conies into 
Bible study the moment one studies 
in order that he may teach. The 
holy purpose gives new lenses to the 
eyes and adds fresh powers of appre- 
hension to the intellect. The study 

oi prophets and apostle- is no longer 

dull, haphazard, unprofitable, but 

becomes thrilling, purposeful and 
satisfying, because the student is now 
a steward of the Most High God en- 

trusted with treasures which he is to 

give to other 

A Christian bent on teaching is 
alert to every opportunity to perfect 

himself in his high and holy art. 

lie listen- with eager attention to 

the sermons; he attend- lectures and 

[no] 



PREPARING TO TEACH 

conventions ; he sits at the feet of 
Bible experts. He hungers evermore 
for knowledge, for in the work of 
teaching the most abundant knowl- 
edge is still insufficient and the high- 
est skill still falls short. The note- 
books accumulate, and the library 
grows apace. A teacher must have 
his tools. Hooks are the instru- 
ments with which he works. Young 
Christians who have heard the call 
to teach will buy each year a volume 
on the Seripture^, and perhaps a vol- 
ume on the art of teaching, SO that 
when the time comes 1cm* entering 

into office they shall he workmen 
of whom the Church need not be 
ashamed. There should he in every 
parish a teacher-training class in 
which candidate^ tor the teaching 
office shall be perfecting themselves 
for their chosen work. From this 
[in] 






TALKS ON HI (ill THEMES 

class substitutes can be drawn to fill 
vacancies which are temporary, and 
successors for those who have died 
or moved away. Why should not 
every well-equipped church have as 
many young men and women fitting 
themselves for teaching as Jesus had 
apostles in his Palestinian school ? 



[112] 



IX 
YOUNG PEOPLE AND MISSIONS 



IX 

YOUNG PEOPLE AND MISSIONS 

^T^HEY belong together. When 
-*■ Christians say they do not 
believe in missions they do not 
know what Christianity is, or else 
they do not know what the word 
missions means. Every Christian is 
by his calling a missionary — one 
sent. Christ never calls men except 
to send them. His first word was 
always " Come" his second word was 
always "Go" To the men whom 
he gathered around him he said, 
"Behold, I send you forth/' and in 
the upper chamber on the night on 
which he was betrayed he said, 
" As the Father hath sent me, even 
so send I you." Mark understood 
[115] 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

his life when he wrote, " He 
appointed twelve that he might send 
them forth.'' These men are in the 
New Testament called apostles, 
which is only a Greek name for 
missionary. Please read the Gospels 
through some time, substituting for 
the Greek word apostle its Latin 
synonym, missionary, and see what a 
difference it makes. It would help 
every Christian if he began on the 
day of his conversion to consider him- 
self a missionary. It would save him 
from a deal of selfishness and redouble 
his enthusiasm and usefulness. 

As it now is, the word u mis- 
sionary " has a far-off sound. It is a 
name applied to a handful of good 
people who go to countries beyond 
the sea, or it is kept for another 
little band of workers who go to 
distant parts of their own land. 

r n6i 



YOUNG PEOPLE; MISSIONS 

The word is made narrow and tech- 
nical, and the people who wear it 
are considered exceptional and 
extraordinary. Being made a pecul- 
iar class the missionaries become 
separated from the mass of Christ's 
followers, and dividing walls rise 
which check the flow of sympathy 
and affection. As they are supposed 
to do a work different in kind from 
that done by other Christians, and 
as they are credited with a consecra- 
tion to which the majority of 
church-members can lay no claim, 
there is danger of the so-called 
missionaries and ordinary Christians 
drifting completely apart, just as in 
the Middle Ages the monks, shut up 
in monasteries, became inhabitants 
of another world. But if all Chris- 
tians would form the habit of think- 
ing themselves missionaries, and 
[117] 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

could see that they, if they are 
doing their duty, are doing under 
somewhat different conditions the 
very same work which is done in 
frontier places and foreign cities, 
there would be an interlacing of 
hearts, and a sense of comradeship 
which would fill the Church with 
fresh enthusiasm and give a new 
impetus to all its activities. 

Let it be settled then once for all 
that every Christian is by virtue of 
his conversion a missionary. He is 
a home missionary, and also a for- 
eign missionary, a brother or sister 
of all Christian workers everywhere. 
He may never go out of his native 
town, but for him the field is the 
world. Through the whole world 
his affections will travel, and over all 
nations he will spread his prayers. 
A Christian who in these days takes 
fn8] 



YOUNG PEOPLE; MISSIONS 

no interest in the slums of great 
cities or in the millions of human 
beings in non-Christian nations is 
a pitiable Christian indeed. How 
can he hope to understand a God 
who so loved the world that he gave 
his only begotten Son, or sympathize 
with the Christ who died for all ? 
Narrowness is repugnant to the 
spirit of Christianity, and the soul 
who is born again lives in a world 
of wide horizons. 

Young people, because full of life 
and daring, are the very Christians 
best able to enter into the secret of 
the great word, missionary. Men 
crippled with disease and worn out 
by labor may be excused for being 
slow to rejoice in the idea of being 
sent. Youth loves to read tales of 
exploration and stories of adventure. 
What healthy boy has not been 
[119] 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

kindled by the biography of a hero? 
And what girl has not been kept 
awake by the magic of a page of 
romance? There is no reason why 
young people should not love the 
books which tell of Christian work 
in strategic fields. The foreign 
missionaries are the explorers and 
adventurers of our modern world. 
They are the heroes and heroines 
most akin in their deeds of dar- 
ing to those fascinating characters 
of fiction whose spell we have all 
felt. If one wants romance — 
exciting experiences, thrilling dan- 
gers and hairbreadth escapes, daunt- 
less daring and magnificent victories 
— let him read the lives of those 
who in the nineteenth century laid 
the deep foundations of the Church 
of Jesus in countries which had not 
known his name. A church is poor 
1 120] 



YOUNG PEOPLE; MISSIONS 

which does not have a missionary 
library, and young people are behind 
the times who are not familiar with 
the careers of the pioneer Christian 
workers of our modern world. 
Reading is one way of keeping alive 
the interest in home and foreign 
missions. There is nothing which 
so dampens enthusiasm and paralyzes 
all the nerves of noble action as ig- 
norance. If one informs himself 
about the work in far-off lands he 
finds it easier to pray for those who 
are working there and to send money 
for their assistance. Not every 
Christian is expected to labor under 
foreign flags, but there is no flag 
under which a Christian cannot set 
up a place of prayer. Young people 
sometimes lament that they cannot 
give themselves to the foreign field, 
forgetting that no matter what the 

[121] 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

hindrances, they can still go in 
prayer, beseeching God daily for 
rich blessings for those who are 
beyond the reach of their hands. 
Would you become interested in 
world-wide work, then pray for the 
success of it every day. 

Let no Christian ever pine because 
he cannot go in person beyond the 
limits of his town, or even of his 
home. Many of the grandest of 
Christ's missionaries do all their 
work within the four walls of their 
home. They are sent to sacrifice 
for children and to nurse the aged 
and the sick, but although they live 
in obscurity they will be found on 
the last great day side by side with 
those who fought in public places a 
glorious fight and won the crown. 
The marching orders are first 
Jerusalem, then Samaria, then the 

[122] 



YOUNG PEOPLE; MISSIONS 

uttermost parts of the earth. If you 
cannot go out of Jerusalem, thank 
God and be content. What a field 
for Christian service in a little town ! 
How many wrong things to be over- 
thrown, how many injustices to be 
corrected, how many wrongs to be 
redressed, how many fallen ideals to 
be reconstructed, how many sad 
hearts to be braced and comforted ! 
It is to youth that the Church must 
look for the larger part of this 
missionary service. Those who en- 
gage in it are in God's great book 
enrolled among the missionary work- 
ers, and here and now they enter into 
the joy of their Lord. Go! How 
far you are to go the Lord himself 
decides, but if, obedient to him, you 
start, the influence of your life will, 
like the light of the sun, extend to 
the uttermost parts of the earth. 
[123] 



X 

CITIZENSHIP 



X 

CITIZENSHIP 

A CITIZEN used to mean one 
who enjoyed the freedom and 
privileges of a city. In our days it 
is one who is a member of a State, 
no matter whether he lives in a city 
or not. A foreigner may live in a 
country, but be denied the privilege 
of sharing in its government. He 
may be simply an inhabitant and 
not a citizen. But if he is a citizen 
the government recognizes him as 
one of its own sons, and throws 
around him its protection wherever 
he may go. A government owes its 
citizens certain rights and privileges, 
and wherever there are rights there 
are corresponding duties. If the 
[127] 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

State protects a man that man is 
under obligation to serve the State. 
The number and nature of the 
obligations will depend upon the 
character of the government. 
Under a democracy like our own 
one's political duties are numerous, 
and only as men are willing to per- 
form these duties can we hope for 
the perpetuation of our republic. 

One of the most important duties 
of an American citizen is that of 
voting. Because the government 
gives him the privilege of voting it 
becomes his duty to avail himself 
of the privilege. If a man through 
carelessness or selfishness refuses to 
do his part in the shaping of public 
policy, and in the choice of public 
officials, then other men, — it may 
be corrupt and mistaken men, — are 
given undue power in the manage- 
f 128 1 



CITIZENSHIP 



ment of affairs, and the city or state 
may suffer greatly. The rule of an 
oligarchy or privileged few has 
always been ruinous, and under no 
form of government can an oli- 
garchy do so much mischief as 
under a democracy. It is only by 
training all American citizens to 
take part in politics that the future 
of America can be made safe. 

Young Christians should not allow 
themselves to think of politics as 
something unclean, and therefore to 
be avoided. Politics is nothing but 
the science of government, and no 
other science is greater or more 
difficult. One sometimes hears the 
word "politician" spoken with a 
sneer, but the word ought to be 
redeemed, and every young man 
ought to feel that he has been called 
to become a politician. A politi- 

9 [ 129 ] 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

cian in the true sense of the word is 
simply a man who is versed in the 
science of government and who 
participates in the shaping of civic 
policies and administrations. Every 
American citizen ought to be a 
politician. If Christians hold aloof, 
then others will seize the reins of 
government, and it may be drive the 
chariot of state into a ditch. Noth- 
ing has done more to bring the Ameri- 
can church into disrepute than the 
blindness of many Christian men to 
their civic duties. Some of them 
have been as impractical and vision- 
ary as medieval monks. Politics has 
been to them the province of the 
devil. They have attended prayer- 
meetings and read their Bible, but 
forgotten to attend the caucus or 
vote on election day. They have 
never realized that the State is as 
[ i3° ] 



CITIZENSHIP 



divine as the family and the Church, 
and that civic duties are not secular 
but religious. To be a saint and still 
engage in political life has been sup- 
posed to be an impossibility. Much 
of the tragic failure of our great 
cities to govern themselves well lies 
at the door of Christian men. It is 
the so-called better classes who are 
the most remiss in this regard. Col- 
lege graduates and men of wealth 
and culture, disdaining the work of 
governing the city, have buried 
themselves in their clubs and busi- 
nesses, allowing foreigners and 
reprobate Americans to work out 
their selfish ends. The time has 
come for Christian men to realize 
that the Christian life means sacri- 
fice, and that no form of govern- 
ment requires at the hands of its 
citizens so much sacrifice as a 
[131] 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

democracy. It ought to be an 
axiom that no man can be a good 
Christian unless he is a good citizen, 
and that a citizen cannot be a good 
citizen unless he votes. 

Along, then, with our missionary 
societies we ought to have civic 
clubs in which young people may 
study and discuss the problems of 
state. The horizon ought to be 
kept large. The fact that all the 
kingdoms of the world belong to 
Christ ought never to be forgotten. 
If the kingdom of politics has most 
bandits and rebels in it, then it is 
the kingdom for Christians to 
attack. If the political pool is 
muddiest, then it is the first pool to 
be cleansed. If a man cannot enter 
politics without being spattered by 
mud, then let him by all means 
enter it. What right has a Chris- 
[132] 



CITIZENSHIP 



tian to be cowed by mud ? Chris- 
tians are in this world to do hard 
things, and to suffer for righteousness' 
sake, and the man who takes hold 
only of things which are pleasant 
and easy is nothing but a coward, 
though he sits in the front seat at 
the prayer-meeting, and never misses 
a communion. It is characteristic of 
the demons in the New Testament 
to want to be let alone. That is the 
characteristic of all demons both 
ancient and modern. But Jesus was 
always stirring up the demons, 
resisting and conquering them, and 
that is the work which is given us 
to do. The gamblers, saloon- 
keepers and all other workers of 
iniquity will never molest us, but 
will even contribute to church work 
if we only let them alone. They 
must be hit, and hit often and hard. 
h33l 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

Let no young woman think that 
because she cannot cast a ballot she 
can have no part in the shaping of 
the nation's life. The political influ- 
ence of women is enormous, and can 
be made still mightier when women 
once realize their possibilities. The 
heart that helps to mold the mind 
of a man determines the character 
of his ballot. Thousands of Ameri- 
can women vote who never go to 
the polls. 

Don't allow your vision, then, to 
be bounded by the four walls of 
your church building. You belong 
to the whole city, and the whole 
city belongs to you. Singing 
hymns and quoting Scripture are 
only incidentals compared with the 
great work of maintaining public 
order and protecting life and prop- 
erty, and maintaining personal free- 
[134] 



CITIZENSHIP 



dom and securing social justice. In 
this work every Christian must do 
his part. Many blessings are now 
denied society because so many 
Christians have been recreant to 
their political obligations. New 
virtues and graces blossom in the soul 
which consecrates itself to civic 
duty. The political order is part of 
the divine scheme for the discipline 
of men, and they who shirk its high 
and sacred obligations lose something 
out of their life which nothing else 
can supply. Count the town or 
city hall a part of your parish. 
Look on election day as one of the 
great days of the year. Write down 
voting as a part of the divine service 
along with prayers and anthems. 
Help by your political action to 
answer the prayer you pray every 
day: "Thy kingdom come!" 
[i35] 



XI 

READING 



XI 

READING 

OF course you are going to read. 
If you do not read now you 
never will. Therefore if you do 
not naturally incline to books bend 
yourself by energy in that direction, 
and make a practise of reading every 
week. The aged man or woman 
who does not like to read is of all 
mortals one of the most pitiable. 

But reading simply for the sake 
of reading is not enough. The 
value of reading depends not only 
on what you read but how you 
read. Some young people read too 
much. Reading is with them a 
sort of dissipation. They read des- 
ultorily and inattentively, failing 
(i39l 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

to remember what they read. It 
is possible to read in such a manner 
as to dissipate mental energy and 
lower all the springs of life. 

Better not read at all than read 
a sort of literature which leaves a 
stain upon the mind. There is a 
deal of trash published nowadays ; 
avoid it. Many books are third- 
rate and lower. You cannot afford 
to spend your time on books lower 
than the best. It makes far less 
difference what a man of sixty reads 
than what a boy of twelve or a 
youth of twenty reads. Spend little 
time upon the daily papers. Even the 
best of them deal chiefly with things 
for the most part ephemeral and 
unimportant. Newspapers are pub- 
lished for adults who know how to 
read with discrimination, and who 
have learned the arts of skipping 
1 ho] 



READING 



and skimming. Only a small frac- 
tion of any daily paper should be 
read by any one person. You can- 
not afford the time necessary to find 
out what your portion is. In early 
life one wants not news but prin- 
ciples; not sensations but lofty 
dreams ; not commonplace English 
but language in its noblest forms. 
The spring of life is quite too precious 
to be squandered on daily papers. 

First of all I would advise you to 
read poetry. Do it systematically 
and with zeal. Begin with any 
poet whom you like. Try a dozen 
if necessary until you find the right 
man, then read him. Burns and 
Scott and Longfellow and Whittier 
are easy poets. Try them and see if 
they fit your mood. Tennyson and 
Lowell are more difficult. You 
may like them, however, from the 

[Hi] 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

start. Browning and Emerson and 
Shakespeare are more difficult still. 
It may be well to wait some time 
before you read them. By and by 
you will be ready for Dante's Di- 
vine Comedy and Milton's Paradise 
Lost. But do not begin beyond 
your depth. It is not wise to cud- 
gel oneself into experiences for 
which one is not yet ready. 

Next to poetry comes biography. 

Make a practise of reading at 
least one good biography every year. 
Biography has the power to kindle 
the affections and to strengthen the 
will. Scores of men date their real 
life from the day on which they 
began to read the biography of some 
noble man. There are two biogra- 
phies which every American ought 
to read, that of Washington and 
that of Lincoln. 

[142] 



READING 



Next to biography comes history 
which Carlyle used to say is really 
the lives of great men. It is the 
story of a nation in its sufferings and 
triumphs, and to read it gives wide 
horizons to the mind. Begin with 
the history of your own country, 
then pass to England, then to Ger- 
many and France, then to Rome, 
then to Greece. The stream of 
events is unbroken and it flows with 
increasing volume from Athens 
through Italy to Germany and 
France; from the continent to 
England and thence to the banks 
of the Hudson and the valley of the 
Mississippi. No one can understand 
the present unless he is familiar 
with the past. Do not try the large 
histories first ; begin with short ones 
written by men who know how to 
tell a story interestingly. You need 
[143] 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

not bother with dates and details or 
dynasties and battles. Read to 
master the sequence of events and 
grasp the forces which have molded 
the character of men and nations. 

Next to history you may place 
fiction. You may like it better 
than poetry or biography or history, 
but it does not follow that you 
should therefore give it first place. 
It is a bad sign when young people 
do not read history because it is hard. 
A young man or woman who gives 
up a good thing because it is hard 
ought to be ashamed of himself. 
Save the easy things until you are 
past seventy. An old man or 
woman may be excused for selecting 
things which are easy. Young 
people should read books which put 
iron in the blood and give glow 
and energy to the affections. I do 
[144] 



READING 



not say, do not read any fiction at 
all ; my advice is, do not give it 
the first place. Along with your 
novel always carry a book of his- 
tory, a volume of biography, and at 
least one good poem. 

You ought to be informed, of 
course, in regard to the things for 
which the Church stands. Jesus was 
a great reader, as we see from his 
quotations, and so also was Paul. 
When the apostle was in prison he 
wrote to a friend urging him to 
bring his books. He studied them 
so much that a Roman officer 
thought he was crazy. He could 
not live without them. Peter was 
anxious that a Christian should be 
able to answer questions which might 
be asked him, and Paul had an ab- 
horrence of conversation which was 
insipid and flat. An ignorant Chris- 
[ 145 1 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

tian is a source of embarrassment to 
himself and his friends, and he is a 
disgrace to the Church. In a world 
of books ignorance on fundamental 
matters is a sin. Every Christian 
who is not frivolous or lazy can be 
informed. He must know the Bible, 
especially the four Gospels, and he 
ought to read these Gospels through 
several times every year. He should 
familiarize himself with the highest 
forms of Christian poetrv, as this 
poetry exists in the hymnology of 
the Church. To spend the spare 
evenings of a winter in the study 
of great hymns is one of the most 
rewarding of all occupations. 

A Christian should also read 
Christian biography outside of the 
Scriptures. There has been a long 
line of saints extending from the 
times of the apostles to our own day, 
[146] 



READING 



and some of these men ought to be 
known intimately. There are great 
preachers whose biographies are 
means of grace. Within the last 
hundred years the Church has pro- 
duced a group of missionary heroes 
and heroines whose achievements 
form a new chapter which God has 
added to the book of The Acts. The 
history of the Christian Church is a 
gold mine in which every young 
Christian ought to be trained to dig. 
And then we should know the 
things which are uppermost in the 
Church of our own day. Christen- 
dom is a wide field, and many inter- 
esting things are taking place. 
There are dangerous problems, tend- 
encies, and movements, and with 
all these young people should make 
themselves acquainted. The best 
way of doing this is the habitual 
[H7] 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

reading of a religious paper. It is 
the part of wisdom, therefore, to 
subscribe for at least one such paper, 
and to form the habit of reading it 
regularly and with care. It will 
exert upon the mind and heart an 
influence, perhaps not at first dis- 
cernible, but ID the course of years 
it will make of the reader a different 
man from what he would have 
been without it, and will help to 

give the world a full-statured Chris- 
tian of whom the Church need not 
be ashamed. 



148 



XII 

INSPIRATION AND MOTIVE 



XII 

INSPIRATION AND MOTIVE 

A SOUL cannot make a success- 
ful voyage over the wide ocean 

of life without inspiration any more 

than a Bailing vessel can CT06S the 

Atlantic without wind. The sails 
oi the soul must catch the hree 
of heaven, it it is to arrive at the 
heavenly shore. The intellect needs 
stimulus and BO does the heart, and 

without influences which quicken 

and elevate we soon grow wearv 
and tall by the wav. It life is to 

he vigorous and noble, the soul 

must have a motive or mover. 

There must he BOme incentive for 

exertion, some incitement to effort, 

[151] 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

some reason for sacrifice, else the 
soul will lose courage and die. 

What is the inspiration of the 
Christian ? It is Jesus ! A writer ex- 
pressed the answer perfectly long ago 
— " Looking unto Jesus, let us run." 
Christianity is the most personal of 
all religions. It is not a book or 
an institution or an idea, but a person. 
The one duty which it lays upon 
man is personal allegiance to Jesus 
Christ. The one blessing which it 
offers the soul is union with this same 
Jesus. No other religious teacher ex- 
cept the Man of Galilee has ever made 
himself the Alpha and Omega, the 
center and circumference, the heart 
and soul of his religion. The 
founder of Christianity says first of 
all, " Come unto me !" And when 
men come close enough to hear his 
words, he goes on to say, " Follow 
[152] 



INSPIRATION AND MOTIVE 

me !" And when they have shown 
a willingness to follow him, he says, 
" Abide in me ! yi He never offers 
them anything but himself. He is 
not willing that they should love or 
serve any one else. He will not 
admit that they need anybody else. 
He declares that peace and joy and 
power are all conditioned on their 
maintaining right relations to him- 
self. He is the bread which they 
must eat, the water which they must 
drink, the light by which their feet 
must be guided. He is the vine, 
they are the branches. Without 
him they can do nothing. He is 
the way, the truth, the life. He is 
the shepherd, and he is also the door. 
He is the sacrifice, and he is also 
the high priest. He is the teacher, 
the physician, the redeemer. He is 
everything. His most piercing ques- 
[153] 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

tion is, " Who do you say that 
I am ? " Everything depends in this 
world and in the next on what Jesus 
becomes to the soul. 

At the very beginning of the 
Christian life, one ought to ponder 
long and carefully this central feature 
of the Christian religion. What is 
it to be a Christian ? Do not attempt 
to frame an answer in which there 
is no reference to Christ. Your 
Christian life does not begin until 
your life is linked with his. 
According to Jesus the Christian 
life is friendship with him. " I 
have called you friends." This is 
the word which he deliberately chose 
and there can therefore be none 
better. It would be well if we all 
said frequently to ourselves, " I am 
a friend of Jesus." 

What is faith ? Some men have 
[154] 



INSPIRATION AND MOTIVE 

converted it into a great mystery. 
It is simply trust in Jesus. "You 
believe in God, believe also in me/' 
This is the faith which he asks for 
and fosters. "Do you love me?" 
This is his crowning question to 
the chief of his apostles. It is his 
supreme question to every one who 
would be a Christian. 

Young Christians sometimes be- 
come bewildered and disheartened 
because religion appears to be so 
complicated and mysterious. There 
seems to be so much of it, and there 
are so many things to be believed, 
and grown-up people have so many 
different opinions on such a multi- 
tude of religious topics, that the 
bewildered boy or girl does not 
know how to make his way 
through the interminable labyrinth. 
But the religion of Jesus is really 
[i5S] m 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

quite simple. No religion really 
from God can be so difficult and 
complex that only an occasional 
soul can be expected to master it. 
If men have made the religion 
of Jesus intricate and baffling, they 
have done it in spite of the effort of 
the Master to make it simple and 
intelligible to everybody. He has 
but one exhortation and that is: 
" Come to me, learn of me, live 
in me, let me live in you." He 
counts nothing essential save union 
with himself. The important ques- 
tion then is not, " Do you believe 
the Bible ?" but, " Do you trust 
Jesus ?" The matter of moment is 
not, " What is your opinion on this 
or that ceremony or doctrine ?" but, 
" What is your attitude to Jesus?" 
The first thing to make sure of is 
not acceptance of any creed or union 
[156] 



INSPIRATION AND MOTIVE 

with any organization, but allegiance 
to Jesus Christ. There is only one 
thing which Jesus asks for, and that 
is love, the love which manifests it- 
self in obedience. The love which 
refuses to obey is no love at all. If 
we do the things which he tells us 
to do then are we his disciples, his 
comrades, his friends. 

It is wonderful how this personal 
touch transforms and transfigures 
everything. If your Christian life 
is a disappointment and enigma to 
you, it is probably because you have 
lost this personal note. Prayer be- 
comes tedious sometimes because 
we allow it to become impersonal. 
We say our prayers into space, in- 
stead of addressing a person who is 
closer to us " than breathing, and 
nearer than hands and feet." We 
grow weary of well-doing, some- 
[iS7] 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

times, because we forget that these 
good things are being done for the 
Lord. It is hard to make sacrifices 
for the world in general, and for 
nobody in particular. Sacrifice is 
always easy if made for someone 
whom we really love. If Christian 
work grows irksome, then press a 
little closer to the One in whose 
vineyard you are working. 

I do not know of a solitary diffi- 
culty in the Christian life which 
cannot be lessened or solved com- 
pletely by sinking one's life deeper 
into the life of Jesus. Have you 
doubts ? Then throw yourself with 
new determination into the work of 
Jesus. Have you troubles, disap- 
pointments, sorrows ? Take them 
all to Jesus. Many Christians re- 
ceive no consolation in the hour of 
their grief, because they have not 
[158] 



INSPIRATION AND MOTIVE 

cultivated an acquaintanceship with 
their best Friend. They have 
lived by regulations and rules, by 
precepts written in a book ; but 
even the wisest rules and precepts 
are like so many icicles to a heart 
which is craving sympathy and love. 
Only a heart can warm and satisfy a 
heart. For comfort press your 
heart close to the heart of Jesus. 
Do you have a tendency to self- 
complacency, and is it hard for you 
to realize that in the sight of God 
you are a sinner ? Then get closer 
to Jesus. If one is simply trying to 
conform to a law, he may become 
as righteous as the rich young ruler 
who declared he had kept every one 
of the commandments. But if one 
is trying to be worthy of the friend- 
ship of a person so incomparably 
noble and exalted as Jesus there will 
[159] 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

come moments when he will cry out 
with Peter, " Depart from me ; for 
I am a sinful man, O Lord/' and 
when he will fall down in the dust 
with Paul, declaring himself to be 
the chief of sinners. 

Are you afraid of death, and does 
the other world seem uninteresting 
and cold ? It is because your re- 
ligion has become impersonal. To 
many Christians St. John's picture 
of the city with streets of gold 
and gates of pearl is dreary and un- 
inviting. No wonder! The heart 
cannot live on gold and pearls. 
What we crave is love. Well, there 
is a Lover waiting for us on the 
other side. He himself has said, 
" I go to prepare a place for you." 
To Paul both worlds were so lovely 
that he could scarcely tell where he 
would rather be. In this world he 
F160I 



INSPIRATION AND MOTIVE 

could work for Jesus, in the other 
world he could enjoy a closeness of 
fellowship with him not allowed 
mortals here. Fill both worlds with 
the thought of Jesus, and you will 
feel at home in both of them. 

Paul understood the secret of a 
blessed and effective life. He kept 
saying to himself, " He loved me, 
and gave himself up for me." He 
indulged in no exaggeration when 
he said, " For to me to live is 
Christ ! ' It was this secret which 
he was always striving to communi- 
cate to others. When he asked 
Christians to give money he re- 
minded them of their Friend who, 
although rich, had made himself 
poor that they through his poverty 
might become rich. When he ex- 
horted them to forgive one another 
he turned their eyes to One who for 
ii f 161 1 



TALKS ON HIGH THEMES 

Christ's sake had forgiven them. It 
was his unshakable conviction that it 
is worth while to endure hardship 
and to suffer tribulation, for " if we 
be dead with him, we shall also live 
with him : if we suffer, we shall also 
reign with him." 



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